As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an Information Handling System (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, global communications, etc. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
In many implementations, an IHS may include or be coupled to a printer. Generally speaking, a printer is a peripheral which imprints graphics or text on paper. Common printer mechanisms include color, black and white laser or LED printers, and color inkjet printers. Less common but also available are 3D printers, which allow the creation of physical objects with relatively little effort on the part of an end-user.
In some implementations, “Secure Print” may be used as a mechanism to enable a user to send documents directly to a given printer, such that those documents are printed only when that user enters their Personal Identification Number (PIN) number into the given printer (or remotely via a desktop or mobile device, for example, using a printer application). Secure Print is designed to avoid exposing sensitive printouts to other people who also have access to the same printer(s) and to prevent printouts left over on the printers where the senders forget to pick up after sending the job.
To use Secure Print, a Print Server (a dedicated IHS separate from the printer(s)) holds jobs that are then released by the user either via user authentication at the printer, depending on the configuration. Pulling jobs from a Print Server while at the printer is called “Pull Printing.” When the Print Server is absent, jobs are held on the printer's memory where the job is sent to, and printing is delayed until the owner is physically at the same printer to enter the PIN to release the job. The number of jobs held on the printer depend upon the storage capacity of that individual printer.
The inventors hereof have recognized, however, that Secure Print and Pull Printing solutions tend to be complex, costly, and therefore unavailable to many users, particularly in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) environment.
Among the various issues with existing technologies, the inventors hereof have recognized, for example: (a) the lack of Print Servers to enable Pull Printing as certain classes of customers are usually cost sensitive and cannot invest in server-based enterprise solutions, (b) the number of jobs hold on a given printer depends on the storage capacity (printer memory allocated to hold jobs) of that printer, (c) when the storage is insufficient, a user has to manually resend the secure job to another printer, (d) when the printer holding the secured print job is in error or running out of toner, the user cannot release the job from another nearby printer, etc.
To address these, and other concerns, the inventors hereof have developed systems and methods for managing print jobs using peer-to-peer techniques, as described herein.